Page:History of West Hoboken NJ.djvu/71

, J. England, Adam Stieger, W. Muller, Ernest Asmus, Wm. Stanford and M. Goelze, met in the greenhouse aforesaid and organized Eagle Hose Co. No. 1, and elected the following officers:—Foreman, Wm. Ludlow; assistant foreman, M. Goelz. Owing to the fact that the first minute books of this old company have been lost, and as nobody living can recollect much about its early history, we will simply say that their first headquarters was situated on the Hackensack Plankroad in a shed owned by a man named Stucke. The members raised sufficient funds in a short time to purchase a hose carriage, and a committee consisting of Messrs. W. H. Drescher, Gus. Gondran and H. Ludlow was appointed to purchase same at a price of $75.

They purchased the carriage from Eagle Hose Co. of Hudson City, and this old carriage is still in the possession of Eagle Engine Co., and it is the oldest fire apparatus in this town. Previous to its career in Hudson City it did duty in New York, and considering the fact that it has been in this town 38 years, and that its stay in Hudson City was about 15 years, and that it was used in New York in the beginning, its age must be nearly three quarters of a century. This old carriage is now kept as a relic of by-gone days by Eagle Company, the town having recently purchased a new carriage for them.

These three companies did duty in the town for a number of years, and we find in the report of Joseph E. Taylor, chief engineer for 1869-70, a recommendation that the town build a house for Eagle Hose Co., and that the board of fire trustees had that year erected two brick fire houses, one for Neptune, on Clinton avenue, near Charles street, and the other for Dexter Hook & Ladder Co. on Charles street, this latter house still stands to-day in the rear of the town hall, having been recently remodeled, and is now used as the jail.

A comparison might be made in regards the amount of hose which the companies had at that time and the amount in use to-day. Mr. Taylor, in the aforementioned report, stated that Neptune had four length of hose and Eagle also had four lengths. Each company now has about 25 lengths, a difference of 925 feet, and we now have four companies carrying hose instead of two.

Mr. Taylor further states that in the year we had three fires, of which two were out of town. The one fire in town was a stack of hay on the pasturage of the car company, and the two out of town fires were as follows:—July 30, 1869, Bunavista Hotel, North Bergen, and September 10, 1869, oil tanks on Erie Railroad, Penn. Horn Creek.